Chinese President Hu Jintao took a hard line yesterday on recent unrest in Tibet, saying problems in the region are a purely internal affair that directly threatens Chinese sovereignty.
Hu’s comments to visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd marked his first public utterances on anti-government protests that broke out in Tibet last month.
“Our conflict with the Dalai clique is not an ethnic problem, not a religious problem, nor a human rights problem,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying, referring to supporters of Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing blames for fomenting the unrest.
“It is a problem either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland,” Hu told Rudd at a meeting on the sidelines of a regional economic forum in Hainan.
As Tibet’s former Communist Party boss, Hu enforced a harsh crackdown against the last major anti-government protests there in 1989 and has tightened Chinese rule over the Himalayan region since taking over as president in 2003. Under Hu, the party has increased controls over Tibetan Buddhism and increasingly opened the region to travel and migration from other parts of China.
In a later speech Hu stressed China’s belief in “peaceful development” and not intervening in other nations’ affairs.
“China does not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, nor does it try to impose its own will on others. China is committed to peaceful settlement of international disputes,” he said.
Hu’s remarks come a day after China ratcheted up its attacks on overseas critics, blasting a US congressional resolution on Tibet as “crude interference” and labeling a leading Tibetan exile group a terrorist organization.
The accusations follow massive demonstrations by pro-Tibet activists and other groups surrounding the Olympic torch’s passage through San Francisco, London and Paris. The protests have stirred anger from both the government in Beijing and among Chinese citizens.
The latest round of protests began peacefully among Buddhist monks in Lhasa on March 10, the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising during which the Dalai Lama fled to India. Four days later the protests turned violent, with hundreds of shops torched and Chinese civilians attacked.
China says 22 people were killed in the riots, many in arson attacks, and more than 1,000 were detained. The Dalai Lama’s India-based government-in-exile says more than 140 people were killed.
Chinese state media lashed out at the Tibetan Youth Congress, accusing it of orchestrating recent protests in a bid to overthrow Chinese rule and sabotage the Beijing Olympics in August.
Such acts “exposed the terrorist nature” of the group, Xinhua said in an article on Friday..
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from